intoxicated yoda

happy thanksgiving day to you @Boo when i think of what i am grateful for, the list just wouldn't be complete without... the monkey

not only question what you read, but who wrote it and why. what was their agenda for writing what they wrote? there are no shallow rabbit holes.

it's been a minute since i've dropped anything here on my quit thread. maybe that's a good thing, i don't know. some personal family issues arose recently that got me to thinking, what do we really know vs. what we are told and blindly accept as truth. for instance, i'm quite sure that there are 7 and a half billion people in the world. How do I know that? did i count them all or did some person that i don't personally know tell me that? Or worse, was it some faceless entity that claims some kind of authority over everybody to tell us how many of us there are? The fact is I don't know how many people are in this world. Hell I don't even know how many houses are on the street I live on much less the number of people in the world. sometimes we have a willingness to put faith in institutions that may or may not have our best interests in mind. questioning ones world view can be a healthy thing to do especially since we are programmed (and highly effectively I might add) through electronic media. that intentional programming started very shortly after the mass adoption of the radio so if you believe you aren't being programmed you might want to think again. In fact, the more fervently you believe you haven't been programmed the more effectively you have been. Even with smoking Hollywood programmed the men to believe that smoking made them cool and desirable and women to believe smoking made them sexy and desirable and the most sinister part is that we didn't even know it until we realized we were hooked. Now you want to look me in the eye and tell me with a straight face that those same people would stop at cigarettes? You think for a second they would stop at selling a product through sexual innuendo when fear is ten times more effective at manipulating the herd? At any rate, I started doing a little experiment were I would write down something I am 100% sure of and then I would write down how I came to know that particular fact and found out that most of the stuff I "know" I don't even know how I came to know it. Most of it I saw on tv or some video on line but my shields were down and it just got rubber stamped by my psyche as true, and that is just a best guess. Maybe i'll start a thread in Games called "Debunk Yourself" where you take a commonly held fact and then state very truthfully how you came to know said fact. Then the rest of us can pile on and tell you what an idiot you are. sounds like good times. But if I don't start the thread you all can pile on here and tell me I'm an idiot. you wouldn't be wrong and my feelings won't be hurt cause I already know the truth. I am an idiot. it's tough not to be though. Think about it, if the world was hollow who would know/ only those who touched the sky/ the rest of us in invisible chains/ aren't even allowed to try.

Wow @Mac#23 i hope your power stays on. if we got that kind of snow where i am the power would be out for a month. it's pretty but i'm not really a winter kinda person.

i am so sorry to hear you are struggling Linda. Sometimes we all just need to vent, so vent. get it out of your system. we understand it. you understand it. anyway you overcome the urge is the right way. sending some positive energy your way.

congrats Joe on 9 years quit.

on a side note...a nickel is 25% nickel and 75% copper. as of now, the metal content in nickel is worth about 6.7 cents. you can buy nickels for 5 cents. i'll let you do the math.

i'll simplify it for you. create a currency. get that currency denoted as legal tender by law. make illegal to counterfeit said currency then proceed to counterfeit said currency. pay a goon to create a virtual currency for the people to buy with original counterfeited currency then counterfeit the counterfeited currency so you can, uh...yeah, them monkey gifs are where its at!

happy quitaversary johnny5. you were a big help in my quit so thanks for that. hope you had an awesome day.

hey there @Susan P.how is the quit going? did you give it a try? i know it's been a while since you posted this but figured i'd reach out and see how you were doing.

Great job Denali. keep up the good work

Champix was recalled due to an unacceptably high level of a compound that is correlated cancer incidence. currently it isn't known if it will be available again. that's what google tells me anyhow

congrats @overcome hope you had a great monthaversary. be proud of that quit and hold it tight

while Barney Fife is the master of advice, nothing...and I mean absolutely nothing...comes close to the power of the monkey for breaking addiction. use as needed. thank Boo later.

@Pedro that was a really good post. having something like this to refer back to months from now and seeing how your thoughts change can really help get you through those first critical months of your quit. I put out a ton of posts and updates on my quit just so I could see how my thoughts had morphed. It was also very nice to see all the reactions I would get and to observe how those reactions changed as I changed. I think that might be the real magic of this board. Keep us posted on your progress and stick with it. you are well on your way.

3. style it the way you like it...i ended up bald with devil horns tatooed on my forehead. (just kidding, been waiting for a while to use that)

hang in there @Pedro. we are all pulling for you to get through this. you can do it. you will do it.

Welcome aboard @Pedro. there's a lot of resources here to help you once you make up your mind to quit. it can be quite a rough journey but definitely worth the effort. your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to never put anything in your mouth and set fire to it. that's the only task.

I think I know that guy. Doesn't he work the night desk at the Sleep Inn?

@Boo ah crap, if you want to go down the conspiracy theory hole i would suggest sticking with flat earth. you are way to close to Arkansas for most of these other topics.

@Boo hmmm...i would suggest you don't look into the social security system then....

@Kris as far as I'm concerned you always have a place here. whether you like it or not we on this forum are your tribe. we all understand what beating this addiction is like so don't feel like you are alone in the struggles you have. we all have this void in our minds that for years we have tried to fill with smoking. some people use food or sex or thrill seeking or other drugs, but the reality is that void is always there. it has to be. it's what drives us to keep going but when we stop doing the thing to try to fill it we forget the value of it's true purpose. that desire you feel isn't an enemy to be defeated. it's your guide. we as smokers or ex smokers have forgotten how to use it because we spent so much time trying to cover it up and seek a life of ease. a life of ease is torment, that void makes us seek a life of fulfilment. I'm sure none of this made much sense but I hope it helps in some way.

congrats Denali. seems like you just got here and now youre at 8 months quit. great job. keep going.